OU Learning Design team blog

Retention – helping students complete the studies they’ve signed up for – is an essential element of learning design. Open University researchers Jitse van Ameijde, Martin Weller and Simon Cross developed the ICEBERG principles (2015) to highlight seven learning design elements that support retention. Below we’ve outlined briefly what the principles look like in practice.

Learning that is designed for retention should be:
Integrated
Learning materials are constructively aligned: activities and other materials support assessment, ultimately helping students pass the module.
Collaborative
Learning activities include opportunities for students to articulate concepts to one another and reflect on them in new contexts. Collaboration also builds connections between students, helping them feel part of a supportive community.
Engaging
Learning materials connect to students’ interests and goals via case studies, readings and varied activities. The academic team should be visible to students too, so that they can ‘hear’ the real people behind the curriculum.
Balanced
Workload is manageable and evenly distributed throughout the module. Sudden jumps in effort needed can be alarming and may not fit in around students’ other commitments.
Economical
Learning materials cover what’s needed to ensure students meet the learning outcomes – and nothing more. Other content – however interesting – can distract students and upset their planning.
Reflective
Activities include opportunities for regular reflection to help students test their understanding and see their progress.
Gradual
Materials build understanding and skills gradually, helping students grasp the basics before exploring more complex concepts.

Find out more
Visit Professor Martin Weller’s blog to download the full report and to explore his insights into the research.

References
Van Ameijde, J., Cross, S. and Weller M. (2015) Designing for Student Retention. The ICEBERG Model and Key Design Tips [Online]. Available at https://blog.edtechie.net/learning-design/designing-for-retention-the-iceberg- model/

Key questions to ask

STUDENTS
• Who are your learners? • What is their starting point? What are the enablers and barriers to learning? • What outcomes do they need to achieve? • What will they do to learn? • How will you measure success?

INCLUSION & DIVERSITY
• What do you want the student experience to be? • How will you create a sense of belonging and bring students on a journey? • What opportunities will learners have to draw on and share their own experiences? • How will you embed wellbeing into the curriculum? • How can you offer flexibility and choice to learners in achieving outcomes and demonstrating their learning?

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
• What skills do students need to develop in order to learn effectively, build confidence and achieve their ambitions? • How will you contextualise and integrate skills into the curriculum? • What activities will enable students to develop and practise their skills, and prepare for assessment? • What activities will you include to enable students to make their own discoveries?

LEARNING COMMUNITY
• How will you promote interactions with others and encourage learners to collaborate and find answers together? • How are collaborative activities structured, to aid the collaborative process and keep students motivated to complete them? • What support will students need before, during and after any collaborative activities or groupwork? • How can you build a supportive learning community on a shared journey?

TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
• How will tools, technology and media be integrated? • What tools and technology are students already using? • Which tool or technology will serve your pedagogical purposes best? • How will you ensure the journey for students is smooth and avoids overload?

Quizzes aren’t just for testing knowledge. They also encourage students to recall their course material, apply it and reflect on the feedback they’re given, whichin turn prompts learning. This is known as the testing effect’ and there’s plenty of research (including a paper by Roediger and Karpicke (2006)) that explores it.

Use our quick tips to explore how quizzes can build understanding and when to use a quiz for maximum impact.

1. Diagnostic quizzes
   Include a diagnostic quiz at the start of your course to give students the opportunity to self-assess their skills and knowledge. You can use feedback to prompt students to reflect on whether they’re ready for the course, which topics they might want to review and/or to direct them to preparation materials.
2. Consolidation quizzes
   Use consolidation quizzes at the end of blocks of study to prompt students to review on the material they’ve covered. You can also use them to break up material into small chunks, providing students with an opportunity to think back on a recent topic.  You should aim to give formative feedback (feedback that prompts students reflect on their learning and redirects them to materials they need to review). Consolidation quizzes should be low stakes: their aim is to encourage students to think about their learning, not to assess their knowledge formally.
3. Formative assessment
   Use formative quizzes as part of your assessment strategy. Like consolidation quizzes, they’re designed to check students’ understanding and provide formative feedback, but unlike consolidation quizzes, they focus on evaluating students’progress towards the course learning outcomes rather than a section of material. Consider keeping them low- or no stakes to encourage students to benefit from reflecting on their progress without being penalised.
4. Summative assessment
   Summative assessments are end-of-course quizzes or assessments that check whether students have reached the learning outcomes. As with other kinds of quiz, it’s important to provide feedback – especially as students may not engage with this material again for a while. Make sure feedback addresses any misconceptions and signposts to other helpful material.

In an online classroom, learners engage with materials at their own pace. This helps them develop independent learning skills, but it can also make it tricky to manage workload.

As a result, they may fall behind or become overloaded.
Use our tips to make sure workload is consistent and clear, and that students learn to manage their time effectively.

Plan: Save time tomorrow by planning today
When designing your teaching, plan how long you expect students to spend on each section. While doing this, try and account not just for the activities, but also for reading the content, watching videos, interpreting diagrams and so on. You may find this helps keep your own writing focused, and reduces the need to trim excess material later.

Split time: Make space for self-directed study
Independent learning is as important as teacher-directed learning, giving students the space to reflect, explore and find their own connections to a subject. Give students a recommended split between the time they should engage with directed material and self-directed study each week both to protect it, and highlight its importance.

Keep it consistent: Try and stick to a consistent workload each week.
Giving students the opportunity to fit their study around their lives is a key advantage of distance education, and it’s much easier for them to do this if they know what to expect from week to week. It will also make it easier for them to prioritise the ‘core’ directed learning if life throws up any unexpected surprises.

Make things predictable: Break it up
Create small and manageable chunks Breaking the overall learning journey up into small but meaningful chunks of learning gives students a regular sense of reward for completion and promotes better engagement.

Clarify: Make expectations clear
Be upfront with students about how long you expect them to spend on an activity. ‘Write your thoughts on X’ could be the difference betweena few bullet points and an essay, depending on the person. By being clear with your instructions and expectations you can be more confident that students will engage with your material in the ways you intend.

Level up: Scaffold towards self-management
Introduce students to tools and methods of managing their workloads, and consider building this into your teaching. It will pay dividends as students prepare for assessment, and time management and planning are also great employability skills to develop.